FLIXTOUR Winds Down after Wobbly Beginnings

FLIXTOUR Winds Down after Wobbly Beginnings

“The best way I learn is fucking up,” says Tom McPhee, the organizerbehind FLIXTOUR, the traveling college exhibition tour, whose Springshudders are closing up today at the University of Virginia. It’s notthe most heartening phrase to hear from one of the people responsiblefor the “proliferation of independent cinema,” as his personal missionstatement declares. But McPhee’s FLIXTOUR still proves, despite therequisite start-up SNAFUs, that alternative distribution is possible,economically feasible, and an important and viable option for indiefilmmakers.

The Spring FLIXTOUR tour began after a less than breakout kickoff at theSundance film festival in January. On board for the tour were KarlHirsch’s “Green” (aka “Whatever”), Lee Skaife and Loch Phillips’ “UseYour Head,” Tom LeGros’ “Guinea Men,” Vincent Pereira’s “A Better Place“and a number of short films (shown only on beta). They began theircontinental journey with McPhee taking the proverbial wheel alongwith a hefty group of partners and sponsors: their booker, The AuburnMoon Agency, law firm Rudolph & Beer LLP, Event Marketing Communications,Impact Interactive, Harvest Music & Sound Design and other ubiquitoussponsors like Short Cinema Journal, Movieline and MovieMaker magazines.

Although they spent “a lot of money going to Sundance,” says McPhee,there was little of the press attention they had hoped for in a launchevent. “I went in with low expectations,” he explains. “We did notdrive for more serious goals. We should have screened one of the filmseach night and we should have worked harder with Movieline, sellingFLIXTOUR as part of their ad package.” Filmmaker Tom Legros’experience mirrors McPhee’s: “I don’t think the goals were that high inthe first place,” he continues, “to get out there and exploit the mediaas much as we could and unfortunately, that ‘much as we could’ was notvery much.”

“I think the excursion to Sundance really made them step back andrealize how big FLIXTOUR was,” Karl Hirsch claims, “and how unpreparedFLIXTOUR was in handling itself. All sorts of things went wrong in ParkCity. It was incredibly frustrating.” So instead of a glitzy opening,the four directors got to meet each other in a snowy setting and thatwas about it. LeGros also notes that not screening at Sundance was like“pouring salt in an open wound,” but still he “was just glad to be there tosee how things work,” concluding, “so I don’t think it was a waste oftime at all.” And although Vincent Pereira experienced a lack of faithat the Park City debut, saying that “things didn’t quite come togetheras they should have,” he admits, “since then, I got a nice handful ofdates. And ultimately that’s what matters, not going to Sundance andmeeting the press.”

And so they went on the road. With approximately 90 total screeningsat 40 campuses, FLIXTOUR became a large film event oncolleges and universities across the country. And with gross sales todate having reached $224,650 (including sponsorships, submission fees,school contracts, independent theater and extra bookings), McPhee hasbroken even, no longer providing capital from his own company (FirstLight Contemporary Releasing). McPhee already gearing up for a Fallopener at this September’s IFFM and readying himself for the onslaughtof submissions that begins May 1 (The deadline is July 31). McPheeexpects next season’s tour to include roughly two and half times thenumber of bookings as the Spring tour.

But what about success for the Spring filmmakers? Directors received$250 per screening with a maximum of $750 per week (not includingindependent venues where they receive 25% of the gross; for example,Loch Phillipps was able to book a week at a local arthouse in Charlestonbecause of a successful college screening.) They received free flights,a modest $20 per diem and accommodations were usually provided by thecolleges. Essentially a traveling film festival, the directors are not sellingtheir films to FLIXTOUR; they are simply lending them for a few-month,mildly-lucrative period. Mark Edgington, the director of one of theshorts (which receive a flat flee of $15 per month), says, “WithFLIXTOUR paying us an honorarium per screening, it’s a no-brainer. Evenif the honorarium isn’t much, it’s sort of the thought that counts.”

Filmmaker’s opinions of the tour screenings have been widely divergent,but early on, many complained of small audiences. Perhapsa result of the same lack of advertising that plagued theirSundance launch or just simply bad scheduling (Phillipps’sscreening at Wilmington College, North Carolina was held the night of thebig Duke/North Carolina rivalry game). At the beginning of the tour,Vincent Pereira complained, “They were pretty sparsely attended,” butthen later added, “In general, I was pretty happy with my turnouts,”citing an average of about 50-70, with a few more widely positiveexceptions at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Point Park,Pittsburgh. Phillipps and filmmaking partner, Skaife, also experiencedsmall audiences although one of their last dates at the North CarolinaSchool of the Arts did prove to be “fairly well attended” with“projection that was beautiful,” despite the fact that “the advertisingwas late to go up and not entirely pervasive across the campus.” KarlHirsch’s few screenings at San Francisco’s The Casting Couch hadturnouts that he described as “exceedingly small,” (only 5 people showedup the first night) but Hirsch puts the blame not on FLIXTOUR’s lack ofadvertising, but on the “the actual venue [which] is a weird one in astrange part of town, and, quite frankly, no one knew about it.”

The support for the FLIXTOUR “idea” is overwhelming as those involvedtackle the untapped treasure of the college market while expandingdistribution alternatives. Theaters are also taking note — the Texas-basedCinemark Theaters chain is showing interest in carrying the tour.While none of the films in FLIXTOUR are pretending to bemainstream-independent fare, they are on the fringe and that’s whatmakes FLIXTOUR unique. “If it remains committed to a certain kind offilms, edgier films,” Phillipps and Skaife maintain, “it will succeed.It has to establish a reputation for itself and that reputation is dependenton every film on the tour — especially during the first few years,” sayPhillipps and Skaife. “FLIXTOUR has to establish itself as a brand so thatpeople will go to the films because they’re FLIXTOUR films.”